Moschin will be forever one of the friends in Amici Miei, the Monicelli'film that won Jaws in the Italian B.OHis role in Palme d'or winner Signore e Signori is quite important. He died in Termi, full of beauty that city.

I hadn't made the connection until the BBC News obituary mentioned it, but as well as his theatre and opera work he directed Akenfield (which was recently released on Blu-ray and DVD by the BFI) at weekends and with amateur actors.

One of my favorite bands, I just saw Hart this summer. He looked thin and pale, but otherwise played well - would never have guessed he'd be gone so soon.

I was able to hang out with him before and after his last Detroit-area shows (12 or 13 years ago now) - appearances so low-key that he asked if I could help him carry his amplifier to the car. He was greatly enthused to have found a first edition of Burroughs' "Naked Lunch" on his way to Michigan and he said that fortunate turn made the whole trip worthwhile. He got most excited when talking about the album artwork (he was responsible for the Husker Du LP covers) and went into detail about how some of the designs were achieved. His Husker Du songs were wonderfully melodic and hook-filled; he really was the "McCartney" to Bob Mould's "Lennon". But his solo work was far more diverse and ambitious; I'm pleased he was able to complete and release the epic "Paradise Lost" - inspired album "The Argument" which felt like a summation of his songwriting concerns. RIP.

I hadn't made the connection until the BBC News obituary mentioned it, but as well as his theatre and opera work he directed Akenfield (which was recently released on Blu-ray and DVD by the BFI) at weekends and with amateur actors.

Well, it was monentary slip, yes? Anyone whoever appreciated Shakespeare productions from the mid twentieth century could not help but be exposed to the remarkable director.

A huge loss, one of the key figures in post-war British Science Fiction not only as an author but as a critic, historian and anthologist. The Helliconia Trilogy was one of my favourites as a teenager, with Hothouse, Frankenstein Unbound and Non-Stop as later discoveries. His history of SF, Billion (Trillion) Year Spree, is also a great, hugely entertaining read.

Incidentally, as at last night certainly, many of his books are available on the Kindle for a very low price.

The recent passing of Brian Aldiss prompted me to go back for yet another re-viewing of one of my favourite documentary series as a teenager, the three part New Nightmares series, which accompanied the "Movie Nightmares" season on Channel 4 back in 1993. This took a different topic each episode and used interviews with scientists and science fiction authors (with wonderful readings from their books), stock footage, film clips (from films in the accompanying series) and dramatised parts in a great manner. There are lots of interviews with authors who have sadly passed on over the years including Brian Aldiss, J.G. Ballard, Thomas Disch, Michael Critchton, John Brunner, Kurt Vonnegut, etc (there's even a brief clip from Robin Williams Live At The Met, when he was doing 'edgy' environmentalist stand up!)

I also did a check on YouTube and whilst the first episode "Man-Machine" isn't on there (which traces the developments of artificial intelligence in science and fiction from Alan Turing, through Crash and plastic surgery, and into virtual reality and Neuromancer), the other two episodes are. The second episode is the environmental/genetics one, "Nature Says No" which Brian Aldiss features the most in (I love his praise for Greg Bear's Blood Music, and he gets the touching final moments of the episode too). And the third episode, "Them!", is about the fear of the 'other' from other races to aliens, to political ideas and the nature of crowds.

Even 24 years on I still find myself coming back to the episodes, if just to hear the readings from the novels!